Today the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the journal Science named 18 winners, honorable mentions and People's Choice awardees in the highly acclaimed International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.

The challenge, in its 11th year, was created to exemplify the old axiom: A picture is worth a thousand words. It celebrates the long tradition of using various types of illustrations to communicate the complexities of science, engineering and technology for education and journalistic purposes when words aren't enough.

"We asked contestants to provide visualizations that illustrate powerful scientific concepts," said Judith Gan, NSF's director of Legislative and Public Affairs. "We were delighted by this year's entries. These visualizations are both beautiful and captivating; they connect scientists with citizens in a way that excites popular interest of subjects normally reserved for academic rigor."

"The winners offer a feast for the eye and the mind, making complex science vivid and beautiful," said Tim Appenzeller, Science's chief news editor.

NSF and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which publishes Science, sponsored the awards.

Visualization challenge awardees were selected from 227 submissions from 12 countries, including entries from 17 U.S. states and Canadian territories.

A committee of staff members from Science and NSF screened the entries and sent finalists to an outside panel of experts in scientific visualization to select the winners. In addition, nearly 2,000 votes determined the public's favorite images as People's Choice awardees.

The competition was conducted in 2013.

Winning entries feature the Earth and planets sitting in the crosshairs of multiple streams of solar power, a game that allows users to map the brain, wearable energy storage to power future generations of electronic clothing and other compelling visualizations.

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